This article is a review of SNITCH.

“Your driver has fortitude,” Juan Carlos (Benjamin Bratt) to Malik (Michael Kenneth Williams) The Rock, a.k.a. Dwayne Johnson, getting beaten up by some teenage punks is unheard of in his oeuvre. Even in the WALKING TALL, he eventually found his rucking groove. Johnson is demoing his range in SNITCH. Bad-assery has been dialled down, and pensive anxiety switched on. “Inspired by true events”, so say the titles. How much of any of this is actually factual is neither here nor there; a political message has been woven into the tapestry of a generic thriller, hoisting up what might otherwise have been a TV-movie-of-the-week. Oh yeah, and the plethora of recognisable faces, attempting to inject gravitas.

There are two major things to chew on as the plot unfolds: 1/ The story, forgetting for a minute about its verisimilitude, is worryingly close to a certain monumental television series, BREAKING BAD. Both are about an ordinary, everyday man entering the drug trade out of necessity for their families. I am up to season four on that small screen high watermark, and four years of nuance and gripping dramatis personae developments leave SNITCH in its dust. Maybe unfair to contrast? Is unavoidable however. It also doesn’t help that a commentary on the narcotics trade also stars Michael Kenneth Williams, who has played one of the greatest parts in TV history, Omar Little, in THE WIRE – as sophisticated an analysis of the war on drugs as anything in fiction. 2/ However, the stance SNITCH takes is laudable, and would make an interesting double-bill with excellent documentary essay, THE HOUSE I LIVE IN. These pieces argue that mandatory minimum sentencing is unjust, and that the war on drugs is currently unwinnable; and in its wake a draconian, mercilessly inflexible judicial system has sprung up, ill serving society. Johnson’s John Matthews has worked his way up from long haul juggernaut driver to owning such a business of his own. We are shown quickly and unsubtly what a caring boss he is, when he gets stuck into a menial job to help his employee finish at a reasonable hour. Matthews has a young family, but also a son, Jason (Rafi Gavron), from a previous marriage, who gets stung for amphetamine distribution. Even though we are told he is a good kid, on his way to university next year, and no previous criminal record, Jason is not out on bail, and he is looking at 10 years minimum. The only recourse to sentence reduction is to rat on other drug dealers. Not knowing any, and honourably choosing not to set up any of his mates, he declines. John cannot stomach his child’s suffering and thus volunteers to infiltrate local narcotic rings in Jason’s stead. Situations get contrived and hard to swallow in terms of believability, but the likes of Susan Sarandon, Barry Pepper and Jon Bernthal (THE WALKING DEAD) add charisma and prestige. Not gripping enough, not crafted enough, though it has The Rock, who sprinkles his unquantifiable magic dust on everything touched to make it all a little better.